Alabama legislative session on hold until May 4
MONTGOMERY – Concerns about the coronavirus will keep Alabama lawmakers out of the Legislature another week, their planned resumption of the legislative session now May 4, as reported first by Inside Alabama Politics.
The session has been on hold since mid-March, and lawmakers had hoped to be back Tuesday.
“Our goal for the remainder of the session is to conduct the people’s business that is required by the Constitution and position Alabama to repair the economic damage that has been done by the unavoidable public health quarantine,” said House Speaker Rep. Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia, in a statement today.
State law limits the number of days in a regular session, and this year’s must end on or before May 18. Because of shortened time frame, passage of the education and General Fund budgets will be lawmakers’ priority.
Bare bones budgets that reflect the drop in income and sales tax revenue as businesses have closed in response to COVID-19 are expected.
“It is imperative that we continue to meet and finish out the session as we move to reopen Alabama,” Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said in a statement. “The people elected us to lead and send us to Montgomery to pass budgets and keep the state moving forward.”
McCutcheon said local legislation that has been advertised by cities, towns and counties will also be included on the work agenda.
“The Senate and House leadership have firmly agreed that state budgets and local bills will be the only matters discussed, debated and voted upon in the remainder of the session,” McCutcheon said. “The governor always has the option of calling us into a special session later in the year to address other issues of importance.”
It’s still unclear what a socially distance session could look like. Senate Majority Leader Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said this week that the legislative staff is working on the best ways to safely conduct the remainder of the session in the eight-story building where hallways often get crowded with lobbyists, the public and state agency representatives.
When lawmakers briefly returned on March 31, the legislative building was not open to the public. Reed said the Legislature will take recommendations from the Alabama Department of Health about how best to handle public interaction during the session. Livestreaming is one option.
